Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-01-13
TOLD BY DRUMMERS.
Wand ering Ananiases Amuse Each Other Wit
WondrOuS Tales of Frogs.
st. Louis Republican

WOndrOuS Tales Of Frogs.
st. Louis Republican
A recent symposium is TINS described
"Geatlemen,' said the Macon drummer,
opening up his grip and taking out q
niece of coal, here is a curiosity. This
piece of coal was given me by friend
who owns mine near Birmingham. in
the great State of Alabama. You will
observe that on one side of it is the per
feet impression of frog. This piece
of coal was found exactly one thousand
three hundred and nineteen feet below
the surface of the earth. The frog ap-
parenely dead, was firmly imbedded in
it. When both coal and frog were brought
to the surface the latter suddenly swelled
up, wiggled its legs, ond then tore itself
away from the piece of coal and Jumped
into a pool of water"
'"That reminds me-" said one of the
Atlanta drummers, 'of a curious thing
that happened in Atlanta. The Kimball
House-the old one, l mean-was built
over aspiring. Of course nothing could
get In or out of the spring after that
tremendous pile of brick was reared up
on IT. The Kimball House, you'll remem
Der, was burned in 1883. Two days after
the fire some firemen succeeded in max
ing their way to the spring, and bless me,
If they didn't find five big frogs swim
ming around as merriIy as if they'd been
IN ice water. Just think of it, they we're
caught in the Kimball House whenit was
built, and, of course they were there
when the fire occurred
"'Quite curious" said the other Atlanta
drummer, "but perhaps you didn't know
that there were originally six big frogs in
the spring. The sixth was found four
day after the fire, squatting on top of
the big chimney, taking view of the i'm
proVements that had been made in At
lanta since the KimbalI House was built"
Gentlemen" said the Cincinnati drum
mer, your stories are doubtless quite as
true as they are interesting. Permit me
to relate one in which frogs figure to some
extent. Near Cincinnati there is a large
pond. 1t IS always full of frogs and the
biggest frog known to natural history.
The fact Is these frogs are as big as hogs.
leading pork packer has his slaughter
pen near the pond. While looking at the
monster frogs one day he was seized with
happy idea. He determined to derive
revenue from them. He had 1000 of
them caught cured the thighs of their
hind legs, packed them and marked the
casks hams Then he put them on the
market. They sold like hot cakes, no
body being able to distinguish them from
genuine hams. Since then that pork
packer has made cool 81 100000 out of
the frogs in that pond, and if nobody dis
covers the secret he will, in the course of
a few years be richer than Jay Gould"
''By the way" said the st. Louis drum
meF, returning the notebook to his peck
ct, II remember rather a curious story
about frogs myself. A summer or two
ago handsome young lady from Chicago
spent month with my sister on my
fathers farm near st. Louis. One
night, at lawn party, she lost one of
her slippers. A few weeks after she re-
turned to Chicago my little brother Tom
found the slipper on the bank of a brook
that runs across a corner of the lawn. He
stopped to pick it up but found he could
not move it. He called two Irish ditchers
to assist him, but although they tugged
at the slipper for half an hour, they
could not move it an Inch. They went to
the stables and brought out six of my
fathers fine draught horses. These they
hitched to the slipper, intending to
have them draw it away from the
brook. They failed. The slipper main
tanned its position as if it were fastened
to the ground with spike clinched in
the middle of the earth. They then ex-
amined the slipper and was amazed to
find it full of frogs. will not hazard a
statement as to the number of frogs that
had made their home in the slipper, but
telegraphic dispatches from every point
in the radious of 100 miles declared that
all the frogs had mysteriously disappear
ed from their accustomed haunts"
"A very curious story very prettily
told,D said the Chicago drummer. "It
reminds me of an accident 1 witnessed
last summer. A handsome young lady
from st. Louis was visiting my sister on
my fathers farm near Chicago. On the
farm was large pond, called in poetic
language the watery home of the merry
frogs It was ten acres square, and it
contained billions of frogs. I was walk
ing on the bank of the pond with the
young lady from st. Louis one day, feel
ing very cool and comfortable in the
shade cast by her feet. In a moment of
playful excitement see accidentally drop
ped one of her feet into the pond. Great
spoons the result was amazing. Every
drop of water few out of the pond and
with it the frogs. No trace of the water
was ever seen again, but the next day
Geographic dispatches from all parts of
the United States, Canada and Mexico an
nounced that it was raining frogs by the
bushel."